All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen

Posted 18 December, 2012 by Danny in Blog, Danny, Danny's Book Review, Featured / 16 Comments

All the Broken Pieces

Genre: YA Mystery/SciFi..
Publication:  December 11th 2012 by Entangled Teen
Copy from publisher
Get your own: amazon | BookDepository
Rating:
All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen on goodreads: 

What if your life wasn’t your own?

Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past and two distinct, warring voices inside her head. Nothing, not even her reflection, seems familiar. As she stumbles through her junior year, the voices get louder, insisting she please the popular group while simultaneously despising them. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, whose own mysterious past also has him on the fringe, life feels complete for the first time in, well, as long as she can remember.

Liv knows the details of the car accident that put her in the coma, but as the voices invade her dreams, and her dreams start feeling like memories, she and Spencer seek out answers. Yet the deeper they dig, the less things make sense. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?

 

The synopsis is quite catching and intriguing! Loved this idea of starting over and it sounds like a great mystery to discover!

Not Knowing who you are…

…sound horrible and devastating! But that what happens to Liv.She wakes up and has no memory of her old life, doesn’t recongize anyone not even herself. Her parents get her and leave imeandealy to start over, so Liv is utterly alone with her own emtpy self. There are not even friends who would make her burden maybe a little easier. When she starts at her new school, she has to learn so many things new and also.. how to make friends! Underlying all of this is the mystery behind who she really is!

Voices in my head…

Liv is not alone in her head. There are constantly two voices battling. And, those voices couldn’t be any more different from each other! One repulsive and outgoing and the other one booksmart and focused. But. Live has no idea who she really is and which voice to trust and where those voices come from in the first place! It was quite sad to see how Liv struggles for a normal live, yet always just looking from the outside. She can trust no one, and even her parents hide some secrets! I felt for Live and her emotions easily transported through the pages.

Spencer… the boy who saves her…

What would that story be without such a boy? Spencer was a wonderful character and together with the mystery my favorite part of this book! He became Liv’s constant and anker and I loved him even more for being there for her without any kind of judgement! But also Spencer has is secrets and also there are mysteries to discover. Spencer, his mysteries and the romance was emotionally played and kept me glued to the pages.

Mystery Uncovered?

The Mystery surrounding Liv’s live and the voices was the main focus of this story and was suspenseful played out! I was eager to uncover all the mysteries. And, until this very last conclusion I was totally and positively invested in the book. Sadly, the ending left me …. unsatisfied! Even though all answers were given they totally knocked me off as I didn’t expect this direction and also couldn’t wrap  it all around my scientific mind. See, having a PhD in Biology makes it hard to judge this ending properly. Of course I know that this is fiction, but some of the conclusions felt so incredibly wrong that it made me cringe. If you don’t care about HLA antigens and other unanswered conclusions then you probably like the ending more. For me? It ruined the story a little for me… It would have been easy to get around some of the things that bothered me, sadly it wasn’t addressed.

Bewitched Rating

Bottom Line

All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen is a suspenseful and emotional rollercoaster with tons of mysteries that keep us easily glued to the pages. Wonderful character development added to this great story. However, the ending and explanations totally lacked a scientific background which is something not everyone would be bothered by, but totally bothered me.

 

 

Much Love,
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Obsessive Reader by Night - Scientist at Day! You can also find me on goodreads. I'd love to get to know you so, don't be shy and say Hello!

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16 Responses to “All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen”

  1. Great honest review, Danny. I’m very interested in reading this book especially because of the whole memory loss aspect. I also really love the sound of Spencer. This is the first review I’ve read that talked about the Biological aspect and I’m glad you mentioned it. I would probably be a little frustrated too if the book was scientifically hard to grasp. The other day I saw this book cover that had red blood cells. I thought cool, let me read the blurb. There was no mention of RBCs at all. It talked about DNA. Now I know that everything in the human body is related to the DNA, but still it would have been so much better to have DNA strands on the cover.
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    Danny 12/20/2012

    You know there were just so many things that didn’t make sense AT ALL! And again, I know it’s fiction but some basic rules still apply and I felt like they needed to be mentioned and addressed. But, it wasn’t and ruined the story for me a little..
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  2. Okay since I have no idea what HLA antigens are I’m not sure that the ending would bother me. But if the ending doesn’t make sense, well that leaves me feeling cheated. Why? oh Why? When you’ve written such a great novel do you do such a disservice to the readers to flop on the ending?

    I was intrigued by the cover, but I think I’ll skip this one. If you aren’t enthused, I won’t be I’m sure. Too many other books coming out this coming month to be excited about! Really great honest review Danny!

    Heather
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    Danny 12/20/2012

    Honestly? I do not think it would bother you. I truly think it has to do with my job and of course I know I’m deeply into the details. And, I loved the rest of the book so I really think not everyone cares so much about the weird ending.
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  3. That is one freaky cover. Memory loss books can go either way for me though this one sounds pretty darned intriguing. While the mystery sounds good, it bites that the ending was unsatisfying (just finished a book where I felt the same way so I feel your pain!).
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    Danny 12/20/2012

    Love the cover and it totally fits the book! I am so angry with the ending and I’m sad I have to be angry because it could have been awesome and with some minor additions more believable!
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  4. Ooh I completely agree about the ending. It was great that we got all the answers but I was like.. really? How can that even happen? I don’t know about the biology factor as much as you, but I wasn’t convinced at all. Also, being in a technological era and all, how could a missing girl go to public school and such without being found, you know? I didn’t fall for that part either. But, I still really enjoyed the book the mystery part was great!

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    Danny 12/20/2012

    Ah see? If non-Biologists also feel like the ending was weird it’s not just me! I was so eager for the final revelations that I was having my mouth open when all the explanations came…. Just.not.right!

    And, I really loved the emotional aspect and the mystery was great!
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  5. Well shoot Danny! I was all ready to be excited about this one until I got to the part of your review about the ending. Boo. I hate when I’m super invested in a book going “this is awesome!” and then I get to the end and that feeling of awesomeness turns to dust. Though I know nothing about biology and HLA Antigens, but I do like my questions to be answered so it bothers me when they’re not:) Overall it sounds like a pretty good read though:)

    Also, I miss your face. That is all.

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    Danny 12/20/2012

    Well that was exactly how I felt while reading! I loved it and then .. all those explanation that were so wrong that it made me cringe and ruined the book a little for me! I think the author tried to get all the answers but just forgot to care about a few little details that made her story more believable!
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  6. Sorry to hear about the ending! 🙁 I hate it when that happens! I’m not very sciencey, but if an ending isn’t detailed or logical enough, then it throws me off too. Or if a book is about hackers and computers and is full with illogical answers then that makes me mad. 😛

    I think I’ll probably skip this one. I like endings to be epic and full of satisfaction! If it’s not, then sometimes it feels like the whole book was all for nothing.
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    Danny 12/20/2012

    I really think the author meant well, and considering that it is fiction she was free to do whatever she wanted. I get this and do support this kind of literal freedom. But, with a little more care for detail, this ending would have been much better!
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